Haunting of Superior

Chapter 3

The air was freezing and pricked Jamie's skin when she woke up the next morning. Beside her, Jack was shivering as they were only wearing thin T-shirts and shorts that didn't provide much warmth. Jamie sat up with difficulty; her back ached after a night of sleeping on the cold floor. The mattresses from their last prison hadn't been very comfortable, but at least they weren't sleeping on the bare floor. Jamie moved her shoulder in circles, wincing at the ache in her muscles. She shook Jack to wake him up, and she was worried when she felt how cold he was. Although, she was as cold as he was.

Brushing her fingers through her hair to untangle the knots, she wondered what day and time it was. They had never had a clock around them, or anything to tell them how long it had been since they had last been at home. Home... Their past life seemed so far away now. Surely it hadn't been as long as she thought it had been?

Once again the door opened, and once again their captors were standing outside it. Jamie spotted a key hanging from one of their belts, and an idea popped into her head. Did she shy away from it? Of course not. She stretched her fingers, wanting them to be fast enough to snatch the keys without the person noticing.

Jack was still asleep, but the people still took him out anyway. Jamie kept one eye on the keys, trying to work out how they could run away. Jack would have to be awake, and he was still fast asleep as the people roughly dragged him against the ground. Jamie winced when she saw small drops of blood fall on the ground. His legs were scraping against the rough floor, but the people didn't seem to care if he was hurt. Go figure, Jamie thought bitterly, wanting to kick the people in the shins for their lack of care.

She moved closer to the person with the keys, keeping one hand in a pocket and the other out, ready to grab the keys. However, before she could grab it, they stopped in front of a new door. The person with the keys took the chain and inserted a key into the lock. Jamie, frustrated by this unfortunate action, shoved her hand into her pocket and bit her lip to prevent a grumble of anger.

The person lifted down the keys. They were right in front of Jamie, the perfect distance away for her to grab them as fast as possible. Wonderful. Jamie looked over at Jack. His eyes were open, and he was looking around in confusion. Great. The person prepared to take a step forward, and Jamie reached forward and yanked the keys out of the person's grasp. At the same time, she took hold of Jack's arm and pulled him up, supporting him as they ran away. Cries rose up behind them as the people realized they were trying to escape.

Worried that they might get cornered, Jamie pulled herself and Jack behind a large box. She held her breath, trying not to tremble as footsteps ran by. People shouted, calling to them to make them come out. But they didn't. They remained there for a long time until the footsteps receded. Now was the time to move. Jamie hurried over to a vent nearby and positioned the box below so she could unscrew the covering. The keys would come in handy for that. She climbed onto the box and inserted a key into the first screw. Somehow, the key worked as a stand-in for a screwdriver, which was very questionable but who cares.

Soon enough, all four screws were loosened, and Jamie pulled off the vent covering. The gust of air blew her tangled hair out of her face and made it more tangled, but at least they had a way out now. Jamie motioned for Jack to climb onto the box next to her. Jack glanced fearfully at the vent, scared of getting lost in it. Jamie smiled and patted him on the back reassuringly, and it was enough to convince him to let her push him up into the vent. He reached his hand down, and she grabbed it and climbed inside after him. It was a strangely big vent. How convenient.

They clambered through the vents, Jamie quietly telling Jack where to turn. She didn't really know where they were going, but she had decided it was best to get to the edge of the building and find the entrance or a room close to the entrance. It was very cold, and they were not protected enough against it. Jamie pushed away all fears that they might die inside these vents and focused on keeping her cool. Jack was counting on her.

Over time, as they kept going farther and farther into the vents, Jamie's worries began to creep back up and eat at her calmness. She was terrified of dying, and she had no intent of not making it out of the vents. Her voice started to shake as she told Jack where to turn. Stop thinking about it, she told herself harshly. Stop thinking about death.

"Are you sure we made the right decision?" Jack suddenly asked. He stopped moving so abruptly that Jamie bumped into him.

Jamie didn't know how to answer that. She too was questioning her decision. "I... don't know," she admitted. "But we just have to keep moving forward and not look back." She rubbed her arms, trying to get some warmth into them. "If we do die, at least we'll die together."

"I want Mom," Jack whispered.

"Me, too." Jamie felt tears prick her eyes. "Me, too."

***

Two tiny plastic bags sat on a metal tray; the red liquid inside reflected the light, making it seem brighter. Machines beeped all over the room, analyzing the composition of the blood and putting small amounts of formula inside the samples. A computer sitting on a desk in the middle of the room was where all the information collected by the machines went. Antonio stood in front of it, hands set on both sides of the computer. His brow was furrowed, and a dark look had entered his eyes. He had passed off the idea that those certain two kids were immune to his work as the product of his employees' imaginations. They tended to get a bit overexcited with their work, and there were times when false results were recorded.

But not this time. They had been right. The kids were immune. They could not be harmed or changed by their experiments.

Antonio's fingers curled into his palm in rage, the nails digging into his skin. The small pricks of pain soothed him, and he took a deep breath, trying to contain the surging anger and panic inside him. He knew, without a doubt, that there must be more people who could not be affected by his work. He released the tension in his hands and closed the computer. This would be a great obstacle in his plans for the world. He would have to eliminate the problems as they showed up as there was no other way to find the peope who were immune.

He wondered what to do about the children. Some of his followers would be against the idea of killing them, and he wanted to keep them appeased so they wouldn't rebel and try to ruin his plans. He stood there pondering for a couple of minutes until the door slammed open. Unfazed, Antonio turned around to see a trembling man standing in the doorway. His eyes were downcast, and he seemed to regret deciding to come there.

"What is it?" Antonio asked, sounding bored. Too many times a day did his followers come running to him complaining of water leaks and chemical spills. Like he cared if someone burned their skin with acid.

"T-the kids e-escaped," the man squeaked like a child.

"Have they left the building?"

"No, they j-just ran away from their guards."

Antonio huffed angrily and rolled his eyes. Kids! They were so annoying. "Then why aren't you out there trying to find them?" he snapped, voice as cold as ice.

The man's mouth dropped open slightly in a dumb-founded expression. Antonio raised an eyebrow, signaling for him to leave, and the man scurried out of the room as fast as possible to save his skin. Antonio took out his phone once the follower was gone and pulled up his homemade map of the lab. He had two labs: One back in Brigadiero Superior and one here, just beyond Lake Superior on the Canadian side. Naturally, he built both in secret after making his wife hack into some bank accounts and drain them of their money.

There was only one way to truly get out of the Canadian base, and it was called the tunnel. The glorious tunnel. The tunnel that took so long to build they had only started using it two days ago. If the kids ran out the only entrance to the building and out into the forest, they would probably get caught by the watchers, whose sole purpose in Antonio's "regime" were to spend all day in the woods knocking intruders unconscious and burying them alive to kill them. Antonio was... quite creative with his security.

Exiting out of the map, he pressed the alarm button, and the loud ringing noise filled the building. The kids would never get away now that the entire place was on alert. The entrance would be barricaded, and then Antonio would punish them accordingly.

Nothing could go wrong!

***

Jamie twisted the screws with the wrench, loosening them so she could pull the vent covering off. Holding her breath, she kept a hand on the slits as the last screw was undone. Its weight was heavy enough that she almost dropped it. It slipped forward, and she quickly pulled it back, terrified. The metal scrapped against the ground, and she stiffened. Behind her, Jack gasped softly. Jamie crept forward, heart pounding so hard she felt as if it would drop out of her chest. She looked out and around. They had come to a corridor, and the floor was dull peach tile. There were no windows.

Not caring if she hurt herself, Jamie easee herself as far as she could out of the vent so she could position her legs to drop out. She slid out and fell to the ground. Her legs, which were numb from the crawling, slipped on the ground, and Jamie fell onto her side. Jamie bit back a cry, fearing someone would hear her. She looked back up at the vent and gestured for Jack to come down. Her brother came out of the vent; he, too, stumbled, but Jamie stopped him from falling.

Still staying silent, the siblings rushed through the hall, knowing that if they followed the wall they would find the entrance. The wall was made of brick unlike all the other walls in the building, which was very questionable aside from the fact that Antonio wasted all his money on soundproofing. Jamie and Jack obviously did not know that, but they were grateful for the convenience the wall's design had.

Occasionally they would hear footsteps from other hallways, and they duck behind the nearest available houseplant or suspiciously broken chair. They had taken off their shoes before going down the halls to lessen the noise of their own footsteps. It had been Jamie's idea. Jack's feet ached, and his skin burned. He kept his mouth shut, though, as he refused to complain or get caught. They couldn't get caught. They couldn't be imprisoned again.

The two kids walked around another corner and stiffened in fear. A large group of people stood in front of the exit doors. One of them happened to look over just as the kids came around; the person's eyes widened in surprise.

"There are the kids!" she shouted, pointing at them. The group of adults immediately moved towards the kids.

Jamie and Jack ran away as fast as they could even if they were hungry and still cold. Air pushed against their faces, and the floor felt too slippery. Jamie felt despair when she realized the only way to escape was to loop around. She gulped fearfully. More of the scientists would come. Could they make it?

A gunshot rang through the air. The sound cracked like lightning, and Jamie screamed as something hard and small sank into her shoulder. Blood stained her clothes. Jamie fell, hitting her head on the ground. The world spun. She distantly heard Jack call her name, and she faintly saw him crouch over her. Breathing heavily, she reached out to him; she could feel him taking her hand with both of his, but the feeling seemed distant. Legs surrounded them, and someone shouted something. The last thing Jamie saw before blacking out was the trickle of dark red liquid running down her arm to her hand and staining her brother's hands. And then there was nothing.